The History of King MaNuHor And Lives of servitude in PaGan ကႝပ္ - ရ

King MaNuHor is one of the most powerful kings in the Mon dynasty and also one of the most devout Buddhist kings in history. Therefore, we, all our Mon people, should not forget him and his history. He ruled over the Mon kingdom of Suvannabhumi, meaning a land of gold (Modern ThaTon) in the 57th of Mon dynasty in the 11th century A.D. During his reign, there was a huge war occurred between Thaton and Pagan. The distance between these two kingdoms is about 450 miles.

I just want to outline king Manuhor’s history not in details, so please do not expect too much to hear from my writing. He was born in the year 1002 A.D. (Myanmar era in the year 364). He was Suriyakumâ by name (mentioned in the Kalayani inscription ) Maim Manuhor (in the Mon chronicle) but he was known under the title of Manuhor. He was a single son in the Royal family who deserved to ascend to the throne and who was worthy enough of Royal properties and possessions. His father was king Udinnarâjâ and his mother, queen Ratana Mâlâdevi who righteously and wisely ruled the Mon kingdom of Suvannabhumi with the ten noble rules of the king in the 56th dynasty. They had an only child, Maim Manuhor. Suvannabhumi was peaceful, stable and prosperous under his father’s rule.

It is said that His majesty king Manuhor was very handsome, charming and good looking at his young age. He had long black mustache on his upper lip. When the time came for a noble wedding, he married to princess namely called Mangalâdevi, the daughter of a high Royal official. At the age of 28, he came to the throne and became a king of the 57th dynasty in the Thaton kingdom after the death of his father, king Udinnarâja. He had power, dignity, prestige and a super natural tongue (a miracle tongue) like king Râjâdhiraj. When he spoke, his tongue radiated light (sent out the light) People were afraid of him and respected him. He owned the 31 white elephants and the Royal army forces such as: the forces of elephants, of horses and of sea and so on. He had the different kinds of weapons to protect the country and the people. King Manuhor together with his Aggamahesi queen Mangalâdevi ruled the kingdom of the Thaton peacefully.

The kingdom was defended with four city walls and two moats. There were some guardians who watched the door of the city and the quay and there were also many guards in the east, in the west, in the south and in the north. All around the city was guarded by a hundred thousand soldiers. The Royal military forces were firmly and strongly deployed everywhere in the country. The king with his Royal warriors risked their lives to protect the mother land. No enemy and no king from the other countries dared come to fight. If they had come to fight, they would have been just defeated and killed by two super warriors. King Manuhor ruled the country for 26 years. Suvannabhumi was flourished, prosperous and peaceful just like heaven above. This is how he was skillful and careful in his administration and strategy.

However the evil things happened when misfortune fell on Suvannabhumi. When a bad luck fall on us, things don’t go the way we want and the way we expect. Before the fall of Suvannabhumi (modern Thaton), there were the six bad omens which signed the king and people that something evil would happen to the country. The 6 bad omens that mentioned in the Kalayani inscription are (1) robberies and thefts taken place in the kingdom (2) diseases such as: snake poison which damaged the people’s skin and cholera, etc. (3) people were lack of food, starving and dying of hunger (4) the seven armies from the seven countries came to fight (5) Monks declined in maintaining Sâsanâ, Pariyatti (The doctrinal) Patipatti (The practical) (6) King Manuhor himself neglected in the work of supporting and promotion of Sâsanâ (mission).

The root cause of why Suvannabhumi was under the rule of king AnawraHtâ was that the daughter of king AnawraHtâ called Anangalar sent out to Thaton and was given to king Manuhor as a princess. She was told to destroy the three miracle powers of the king. They are (1) to kill the two super warriors, the two brothers namely Paratdhot and Paratjanook (2) to cut off the egg plant shaped drum which used for a warning (3) to break the moral of the king she committed adultery. At first she was not accepted and she was tested whether she was the real daughter of king AnawraHtâ or not. The king used his wise tactic to refuse her. The king brought the seeds of the soaked mangoes which had been soaked in salt liquid and the seeds of the boiled toddy palm and told Anangalar, the daughter of AnawraHtâ that if she could plant these seeds and could make them grow and bear fruits, he would accept her as his aggamahesi, the chief queen. If not, she had to receive the punishment.

Anangalar agreed with the king and she made a vow and planted the seeds (dead seeds not raw ones) in front of king Manuhor. It was a miracle that the seeds grew taller and taller and bore flowers and fruits in due course. Therefore the king had no choice and had to accept her as his queen as he promised. When misfortune fell on the plight of Thaton, anything could happen. It happened not the way king Manuhor expected. It didn’t happen as he wanted. I think that it is a good lesson for us to learn from the mistake.

It was wrong of king Manuhor that he received the cheating hearted Anangalar as his queen without deep thinking and consulting with astrologers and Royal wise men. It was also wrong that he gave many favors to her to spoil the three miracle powers mentioned above. But she failed to kill the two skilled warriors, the two brothers. When the elder brother, Paratjanook, realized that his king wanted to kill him, he agreed with Anangalar and accepted being killed. He told that his bone should be buried at the south of the city to protect the country. Despite being killed on the trick, he still worried about his king and people. This show that how he loved his country and king. After having succeeded on her plan, Anangalar sent message to her father, king AnawraHtâ to come to fight Suvannabhumi.

When the two brothers were alive, the Pagan army came to fight about three times but failed to manage. After the elder brother, Paratjanook died, the Pagan army came again to attack Thaton with great forces during raing season, Myanmar era in the year 419, but they still failed. They wanted to know why they could not manage the fight and went to see the astrologers. It was calculated that the buried bone of the elder brother, Paratjanook at the south of the city had to be removed away mean while the younger brother, Paratdhot went to the Pagan side because he felt painful on the death of his brother. In the end nothing left on Suvannabhumi, a land of gold.

In the 11th century A.D, Buddha era 1601, the world era 1050 and the Myanmar era in the year 419, the 1st waxing of Jure (June) on Monday in the morning, the Mon kingdom of Suvannabhumi downed under the rule of the Pagan king, AnawraHtâ. Many objects of art, of culture, all the Royal family, the noble men, the skilled craftsmen, the Buddha’s relics and the three Pitakas (three baskets) about 30 pairs of Pitakas were carried off to Pagan.

King Manuhor and his queen were chained. Some 33 white elephants and tens of thousands of monks were captured and they were driven to Pagan on foot.

It was a long walk journey about 350 miles far from Thaton to Pagan. We can imagine how much they suffered and how harder they had to walk. King Manuhor and queen Mangalâdevi were sentenced in prison to all the rest of their lives. We can draw a picture that how hander our king and ancient Mons had been harassed under the rule of Pagan king, AnawraHtâ. Lives of slavery are good for nothing but hard as hell.

Sometimes the Myanmar king, AnawraHtâ had to consult with king Manuhor, the Mon king for good advices. King AnawraHtâ was still afraid of king Manuhor when he spoke due to his miracle tongue. Later the miracle on his tongue disappeared because he ate evil rice mixed with lime and turmeric that given to him by the Myanmar king, AnawraHtâ under his trick. After having lost his miracle tongue, king Manuhor felt really disappointed and hopeless. Therefore, he requested the Pagan king to let him build pagodas and statues of Buddha. King, AnawraHtâ agreed with him and gave him an opportunity for the religious construction.

He sold his magic diamond to a wealthy man of Anuradha city and earned 6 cartloads of silver. All the money was donated in the construction. He erected a pagoda, the three statues of Buddha and a reclining statue of Buddha. They were all set up by the skilled Mon architects and Mon craftsmen. The pagoda, the three statues of Buddha and the reclining Buddha were built on the very crowded and tight position from one to the other. It is very narrow and very difficult to go through from one to one for paying homage. The Mon architects wanted to show that how harder and restricted our king had been sentenced and controlled in prison. It took 6 months and 6 days to complete the construction. It was started from the 2nd waxing of Khadhoisoi(August) and completed on 6th waxing of Phoragon(March).

After he had his religious project completed, he prayed, “In my every life of rebirth, may I have no one who conquer me.” At the time of the fall of Thaton, King Manuhor aged 55 and had ruled over the Mon kingdom of Thaton for 26 years and was imprisoned for 10 years in Pagan region. His life ended with sadness and sorrow.

Venerable ArahamH promoted Sâsanâ(mission) for 44 years in his mother Land, the Mon kingdom of Thaton and for 17 years in the Pagan kingdom. The Buddha era 1616, the Myanmar era in the year 436, he aged 81 and got 61 Buddhist lents and attained nirvana at the Jetavana monastery in Pagan region.

May we all be liberated and free from the lives of slaves.

By Hong Nohn
(Pine Ka Mar)
May 3, 2006

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